Basra Awash in Violence as It Tests Self-Rule

Iraqi lawmakers met cleric in Iran before deal was struck

(NEWSER) - Iran played a key role in convincing Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to call a ceasefire in Basra yesterday, CNN reports. Iraqi lawmakers from five Shiite parties traveled to Iran on Friday to meet with al-Sadr, and returned yesterday, right before al-Sadr's injunction to halt violence in Basra, an Iraqi official said. More»

Victims were marking a holy day

(NEWSER) - Iraq's Sunni-Shiite tensions worsened yet again today when a suicide bomber killed at least 53 Shiite pilgrims marking a holy day, reports Reuters . The bomber, dressed as a police officer, struck at a checkpoint in Basra. No claims of responsibility yet, but it bears the hallmarks of Sunni-dominated al-Qaeda, which is trying to capitalize on the sectarian chaos, notes the New York Times . More»

(NEWSER) - British troops will begin withdrawing their 4,000 troops from Iraq in March and will have all but a few hundred out by the end of June, the Guardian reports. They will be replaced at their base in Basra not by Iraqis but by Americans, who are worried about keeping supply routes safe from Kuwait. The withdrawal will effectively end Britain's six-year mission in southern Iraq. More»

Photographer had been held in Basra for two months

(NEWSER) - Iraqi troops rescued British photojournalist Richard Butler during a raid in Basra today, the Daily Telegraph reports. Storming a suburban house, soldiers found Butler with a hood over his head, but apparently unharmed. Butler had been working in Basra for CBS when he was abducted—by what were thought to be Shiite militiamen—from his hotel 2 months ago. More»

Americans taken aback by Maliki's hasty, improvised raid

(NEWSER) - American officials were expecting a gradual, methodical operation when Nouri al-Maliki moved Iraqi troops into Basra to restore order in the city. What they witnessed instead was a rush job: an Iraqi raid that had little forethought and began even before the last of the soldiers had arrived. "He went in with a stick and he poked a hornet's nest," one coalition official told the New York Times. More»